[BC] Low-Tech "EAS"

[Jeffrey Kopp]

I recall hearing that during the Blitz, the BBC would end their broadcast
evening with progressively softer music (to encourage people to turn
up the volume), after instructing listeners to "Leave your radio on" upon
retiring so they could hear a warning broadcast during the night. (ISTR
reading they even ran the numbers on the risks of fire from unattended
tube sets vs. unprepared casualties.)

However, I can't find a cite for this just now; searches for "bbc" with
"leave your radio on" all seem point to its use as a catchphrase on
Monty Python.

The IDF has used the "silent station" method for several years now: http://www.worldofradio.com/dxld3053.txt (Glenn Hauser, 3/29/03).
Note the fascinating cultural detail: Instructing the audience to
pre-set a receiver to the warning frequency avoids obliging the
observant to "operate" (i.e., adjust) a radio on the Sabbath.

Immediately below is an obscure (possibly apocryphal) nugget
of lore for you WLW fans out there: "WLW did something similar
during WWII, left the  transmitter on with a mike open and a clock
ticking (Powell E. Way, ibid.)"